The Indian hare is distributed throughout India, except the high reaches of the Himalayas and mangrove areas within the Sundarbans in the state of West Bengal. The geographic distribution extends into eastern Pakistan, southern Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh excluding the Sundarbans (Flux and Angermann 1990). It is thought to occur in Bhutan as well, but exact locations are not known (Chakraborty et al. 2005). This species can be found at elevations ranging from 50-4,500 m (Chakraborty et al. 2005).

This species has been introduced to many islands of the Indian Ocean; Mauritius, Gunnera Quoin, Anskya, Rèunion, and Cousin (Hoffmann and Smith 2005). Lepus nigricollis is considered native to Java by McNeely (1981), but its origin is considered uncertain by Hoffmann and Smith (2005).